Benchmarks trade at day lows; Nifty breaches 7,650 mark

Extending their southward journey, Indian equity benchmarks are trading near intraday lows in noon deals with frontline gauges breaching their crucial 7,650 (Nifty) and 25,000 (Sensex) levels, despite the Reserve Bank cutting repo rate by 25 basis points, which was in line with market expectations. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan also narrowed the policy rate corridor from +/-100 basis points (bps) to +/- 50 bps by reducing the MSF rate by 75 basis points and increasing the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points. RBI also reduced the minimum daily maintenance of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 95 per cent of the requirement to 90 per cent with effect from the fortnight beginning April 16, 2016, while keeping the CRR unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).

On the global front, Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red at this point of time, pressured by slumping crude oil prices and mixed messages from Federal Reserve policymakers on the outlook for US interest rate rises. Back home, interest rate-sensitive sectors shares such as bank, auto and realty were down more than 1% each on profit booking after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today reduced the repo rate or repurchase rate. On the flip side, aviation stocks viz. Spicejet, Jet Airways and Indigo edged higher on decline in crude oil prices. However, Public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) viz. BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading higher as petrol price has been hiked by Rs 2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise per litre.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24998.51, down by 401.14 points or 1.58% after trading in a range of 24998.51 and 25372.44. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.98%, while Small cap index down by 0.97%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 3.17, Bankex down by 2.05%, Metal down by 1.99%, Realty down by 1.67% and Industrials down by 1.65%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 0.21% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.58%, ICICI Bank down by 4.15%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.77%, SBI down by 3.33% and Coal India down by 2.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has lined up a list of 16 PSUs for disinvestment in 2016-17 which could fetch the exchequer Rs 40,000 crore at current stock value. The list includes ONGC, Oil India and Coal India and state-owned companies such as NMDC, MOIL, MMTC, National Fertilisers, NHPC, NALCO and Bharat Electronics.

The list mostly contains PSUs which were up for sale in the last fiscal itself but volatile market conditions delayed the plan. Besides, the Cabinet approvals are also in place for some of these PSUs. In PSUs which have excess cash, buy back is also an option for which new approval is not needed.

At the current market price, 10 per cent stake sale in Coal India, NMDC and Nalco could fetch around Rs 18,000 crore, Rs 3,800 crore and Rs 1,000 crore respectively.  Besides, 5 per cent stake sale in ONGC, BHEL and Bharat Electronics could raise about Rs 9,000 crore, Rs 1,300 crore and Rs 1,400 crore.  A 10 per cent stake sale in NHPC and MOIL could fetch around Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 365 crore.  Further, a 15 per cent stake sale in MMTC, National Fertiliser and STC could raise about Rs 560 crore, Rs 200 crore and Rs 80 crore respectively.  Furthermore, the government is considering a 5 per cent stake sale in Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, 12.03 per cent in ITDC and a follow on public offer of NBCC

For the current fiscal the Budget has set a disinvestment target of Rs 56,500 crore. Of this, Rs 36,000 crore is estimated to come from minority stake sale in PSUs, and the remaining Rs 20,500 crore is projected to come from strategic sale in both profit and loss-making companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7639.00, down by 119.80 points or 1.54% after trading in a range of 7636.60 and 7736.30. There were 4 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 1.08%, BPCL up by 0.92%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 0.53%, Lupin up by 0.19% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.93%, ICICI Bank down by 4.36%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.92%, Bank of Baroda down by 3.50% and SBI down by 3.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 390.45 points or 2.42% to 15,732.82, Hang Seng dropped 304.13 points or 1.48% to 20,194.79, Taiwan Weighted shed 87.28 points or 1% to 8,657.55, KOSPI Index fell 16.23 points or 0.82% to 1,962.74 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 5.49 points or 0.32% to 1,719.7.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 32.12 points or 0.66% to 4,882.29 and Shanghai Composite was up by 34.36 points or 1.14% to 3,043.89.